Chronological List of All Hurricanes: 1851 - 2012

(Revised in June 2013 to reflect the 1941-1945 revisions)

Notes:

States Affected and Category by States Affected: The impact of the hurricane on individual U.S. states based upon the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (through the estimate of the maximum sustained [1-min] surface [10 m] winds at each state). TX S-South Texas, TX C-Central Texas, TX N-North Texas, LA-Louisiana, MS-Mississippi, AL-Alabama, FL NW-Northwest Florida, FL SW-Southwest Florida, FL SE-Southeast Florida, FL NE-Northeast Florida, GA-Georgia, SC-South Carolina, NC-North Carolina, VA-Virginia, MD-Maryland, DE-Delaware, NJ-New Jersey, NY-New York, PA-Pennsylvania, CT-Connecticut, RI-Rhode Island, MA-Massachusetts, NH-New Hampshire, ME-Maine. In Texas, south refers to the area from the Mexican border to Corpus Christi; central spans from north of Corpus Christi to Matagorda Bay and north refers to the region from north of Matagorda Bay to the Louisiana border. In Florida, the north-south dividing line is from Cape Canaveral [28.45N] to Tarpon Springs [28.17N]. The dividing line between west-east Florida goes from 82.69W at the north Florida border with Georgia, to Lake Okeechobee and due south along longitude 80.85W.) Occasionally, a hurricane will cause a hurricane impact (estimated maximum sustained surface winds) in an inland state. To differentiate these cases versus coastal hurricane impacts, these inland hurricane strikes are denoted with an "I" prefix before the state abbreviation. States that have been so impacted at least once during this time period include Alabama (IAL), Georgia (IGA), North Carolina (INC), Virginia (IVA), and Pennsylvania (IPA). The Florida peninsula, by the nature of its relatively landmass, is all considered as coastal in this database.

Highest U.S. Saffir-Simpson Category: The highest Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale impact in the United States based upon estimated maximum sustained (1-min) surface (10 m) winds produced at the coast. ("TS" indicates that the system caused only tropical storm conditions in the United States, though it was a hurricane at landfall. See "&" below.)

Central Pressure: The observed or estimated central pressure of the hurricane at landfall.

Maximum Winds: Estimated maximum sustained (1-min) surface (10 m) winds to occur along the U. S. coast. Winds are estimated to the nearest 10 kt for the period of 1851 to 1885 and to the nearest 5 kt for the period of 1886 to date. (1 kt = 1.15 mph.)

* - Indicates that the hurricane center did not make a U.S. landfall (or substantially weakened before making landfall), but did produce the indicated hurricane-force winds over land. In this case, central pressure is given for the time that the hurricane winds along the coast were the strongest.

& - Indicates that the hurricane center did make a direct landfall, but that the strongest winds likely remained offshore. Thus the winds indicated here are lower than in HURDAT.

# - Indicates that the hurricane made landfall over Mexico, but also caused sustained hurricane force surface winds in Texas. The strongest winds at landfall impacted Mexico, while the weaker maximum sustained winds indicated here were conditions estimated to occur in Texas. Indicated central pressure given is that at Mexican landfall.

Additional Note: Because of the sparseness of towns and cities before 1900 in some coastal locations along the United States, the above list is not complete for all states. Before the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts became settled, hurricanes may have been underestimated in their intensity or missed completely for small-sized systems (i.e., 2004's Hurricane Charley). The following list provides estimated dates when accurate tropical cyclone records began for specified regions of the United States based upon U.S Census reports and other historical analyses. Years in parenthesis indicate possible starting dates for reliable records before the 1850s that may be available with additional research: Texas-south > 1880, Texas-central > 1851, Texas-north > 1860, Louisiana > 1880, Mississippi > 1851, Alabama < 1851 (1830), Florida-northwest > 1880, Florida-southwest > 1900, Florida-southeast > 1900, Florida-northeast > 1880, Georgia < 1851 (1800), South Carolina < 1851 (1760), North Carolina < 1851 (1760), Virginia < 1851 (1700), Maryland < 1851 (1760), Delaware < 1851 (1700), New Jersey < 1851 (1760), New York < 1851 (1700), Connecticut < 1851 (1660), Rhode Island < 1851 (1760), Massachusetts < 1851 (1660), New Hampshire < 1851 (1660), and Maine < 1851 (1790).